Social Change and the Validity of Regional Stereotypes in East Pakistan

8/3/2019 Social Change and the Validity of Regional Stereotypes in East Pakistan

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Social Change and the Validity of Regional Stereotypes in East PakistanAuthor(s): Howard SchumanReviewed work(s):Source: Sociometry, Vol. 29, No. 4, An Issue on Cross-Cultural Studies (Dec., 1966), pp. 428-440Published by: American Sociological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2786297 .

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Social Change and theValidityofRegional StereotypesnEast Pakistan*HOWARD SCHUMANUniversityf Michigan

This investigationombines wo approaches suallypursued eparately: hestudy f stereotypesnd the study f national haracter. sing urvey nter-viewdata on ethnic roupsunder he mpact f social change, n attemptsmade to validate wo popular tereotypes,o learnwhere nd why theyfallshort f accuracy, nd to use the stereotypess a heuristic eviceforgaininginsight nto changes n ethnic haracter.On the ssumptionhat stereotypes "a fixedmpression hich onformsvery ittle o the facts t pretendso representnd results rom urdefiningfirstnd observingecond," ittle ttention as beenpaid insocial psychologyto investigatinghe validityof popular beliefs about national character.'

Practically ll research as been directed oward llustratinghecontent fcommon ational terotypesnd indicatinghe connectionfstereotypingo(other) measures f prejudice.The focushas been almostentirely n thesubject, lmostnever n theobject.*The writer s indebtedfor advice and encouragement o Alex Inkeles. This researchwas part of a comparativeprojecton Socio-culturalAspects of DevelopmentdirectedbyProfessor nkeles and carried out within the program of the Center for InternationalAffairs, arvard University.1The quoted definitions from Daniel Katz and Kenneth W. Braly, "Verbal Stereo-types nd Racial Prejudice," n Harold Proshansky nd BernardSeidenberg, asic Studiesin Social Psychology,New York: Holt, Rinehart, nd Winston,1965, pp. 266-272. For acritical eview of definitionsftheterm stereotype," ee JoshuaA. Fishman, An Exami-nation of the Processand Function of Social Stereotyping," ournalof Social Psychology,43 (February, 1956), pp. 27-64. A briefbut excellent iscussion lso occurs n S. E. Asch,SocialPsychology,ew Jersey: Prentice-Hall,1952, pp. 231-238.A numberof seriousanalysesof nationalcharacterprobablystartfrompopular beliefs,but the fact that"the term tereotype as come to standfornearly ll that is deficientnpopular thinking" Asch, op. cit., p. 232) makes authors understandably eluctant toacknowledgethe debt. Thus Stanley Milgram's experimentalwork on "NationalityandConformity,"cientificmerican,05 (December,1961), pp. 45-51, beginsby contrastingstereotypeswithscientific tudiesof nationalcharacter, ut does not discussthe fact thatthe reporteddifferentialonformityf Frenchand Norwegianstudents s consistentwithwidelyheld stereotypes. 428


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VALIDITY OF STEREOTYPES 429The present tudy takes a differentack. We will define stereotypes"simply s popularbeliefs bout national haracter, ithno fixed ssumptionas to their alidity. o be sure, tereotypesre usuallyheld n an uncritical

fashion, ith ittle r no concern or he distributionf the traits escribed.2It is highly nlikely hat hey an be valid n any iteral ense.But we shouldnot assumewithout nvestigationhat they ack validity y the moreusualscientific riteriafor describing tatistically eliable and important roupdifferences.Startingwiththisdefinition,ur first im is to confrontopularproposi-tionswithrelevant ata about the groups tereotyped.n the present tudy,thepopularbeliefs re thoseheld by a sampleof universitytudentsn EastPakistan about regionaldifferencesn characterwithin heirown country.The data relevant o validity omefrom survey ftheattitudes nd valuesof 1001 East Pakistanipeasants nd urban aborers,mostofwhom re menof thespecific egions nder onsideration.Direct comparison f the stereotypes ith the data will presumably otproduce niformlyalidating esults. ursecond im, therefore,s to suggestseveralhypotheseshat may help n understandinghe rise or persistence fstereotypeshen heyackvalidityn thesimple enseofaccurately escrib-ing group character.Again the focus s not mainlyon the intra-psychicprocesses f thestereotyper,ut rather n the changing ocial situation fwhich hestereotypedroups re a part.

REGIONALSTEREOTYPES IN EAST PAKISTANThe Provinceof East Pakistanis divided nto seventeen istrictswithpopulations of from1.5 to 7 million. To the non-Pakistani observer, heseDistricts ppear important rimarilys administrativenits.To most East

Pakistanis,however, heyalso represent istinct egions,nd a man tendsto dentifynd be identifiednterms f theDistrict e "belongs o"-meaningtheonefrom hich e originates.orexample,skedhowtheywouldrespondif requested o nametheir country,"hemajority 66%) of oursampleofcultivatorsnd urbanworkers avethenameof their istrict, ather hanof2 The usualmethod ormeasuringtereotypes-amethod epeatedn this tudy-forcespeople o answer n all or nothingerms.Without vidence n qualificationshatmightbe ntroducedere he pportunityvailable,t s difficulto udge hedegree fsophisti-

cationwithwhich uchbeliefs re held.3East Pakistan ad a totalpopulationn 1961of 50.8million, akingt larger han llbut ten nations f theworld cf.,Final Tablesof Population, ulletin , PopulationCensus of Pakistan, 961,Karachi:Ministryf HomeAffairs,. 24; and BruceM.Russett,t al., WorldHandbookofPolitical nd Social Indicators, ew Haven: YaleUniversityress, 964, p. 18-21).


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430 SOCIOMETRYPakistanor East Pakistan.4 roma theoreticaltandpoint,he Districts anusefully e regardeds "ethnic roups" n thegenericenseof "peoplehood,"similar n nature (though ess sharply nd deeply defined) to nationalitygroups n the Westand to manyof the so-called ribalgroups n Africa.5The people ofeach District re, not surprisingly,hought f as distinctivein character nd behavior. his is clearest rom emarksmade n casual con-versation, ut referenceslso appear occasionally n publisheddescriptions.For example, he1961 Censusof Pakistandescribesmenof NoakhaliDistrictas "highlynterprising,dventurous,nd resourcefulithplenty f drive ndinitiative and . . . ready to work anywhere at any time for a decent wage." 6Suchwrittenccountsmaybe expected,fcourse, oomit rrephrase opularcharacterizationshat are negativen connotation.

Drawing n part on these nformallybtained tereotypesnd in part onthe list developedby Katz and Braly, the author constructed "WordDescription nventory" nd administeredt to all studentsn fourcollege-level classes n Dacca, the capital and educational enter f East Pakistan.7The studentswereasked to choose from list offifty djectives the fourwhich eem to you bestto describe hepeoplebelongingo each" oftwelveDistricts f the Province.8 he final mallsampleof 89 students s not a4The Bengaliwordfor country,"ish,canrefer o areas definedulturallynd geo-graphically,s well as politically.ts use is determinedn part by context, ut notentirely.Holding etting onstant,he responsePakistan" s stronglyssociatedwitheducation; hus, supplementaryample f210 studentsn a technicalnstituten Daccaalmost nanimously95%) respondedo the amequestion y naming akistan,lthoughin terms f context heymight ave been expected o mention hat home District.tshould e addedthat hepredominantistrictesponse iven y workersnd cultivatorsdoes not ndicategnorancefthe dentityftheir ation, utrather he alience o themof their istrict.5This broad use of "ethnic roup"follows hat of M. M. Gordon,AssimilationnAmerican ife,New York: Oxford niversityress, 964,Chapter . See also CliffordGeertz, ld SocietiesndNewStates,Glencoe:TheFreePress, 963, p. 104-157, ortreatmentf region s an ethnic ategory,houghheterm thnics replaced y "primor-dial ttachment."6DistrictCensusReport: Noakhali, opulationCensus of Pakistan, 961,Karachi:MinistryfHomeAffairs,p.1-18.7See Katz and Braly, p. cit.Therewere95 studentsn the original ample, ut sixcompletedess than wo-thirdsf the nventorynd have beendropped rom ll calcula-tions. orthe 89 studentsemaining,totalof 12X 4 X 89= 4272 wordswouldbe ex-pected.Actually0 spaceswere eftblank, o thatwe havea totalof4,222words. he

four college lasseswerechosenfromfourdifferentniversitynits commerce,aw,psychology,nd socialwelfare)n which ooperationouldbe obtained..8 Only welve f the seventeenossible istricts ere ncludedn the ist n order oshorten hetask.Excludedwerefournorthwesternistrictsnown s NorthBengal, swellas the predominantlyribalChittagongill TractsDistrict. hese Districtsre ofmarginalmportanceromhestandpointf ndustrialization,hichwas themajorcon-cern fthe arger roject f which his tudys a part.


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VALIDITY OF STEREOTYPES 431randomrepresentationf all collegestudents, nd less so of other socialgroups. ut theresults sing hisformalmeasure f stereotypesit losely heimpressionsainedfrommany nformalources, nd it seems egitimateodrawon the most alientfindingsor he specific urpose f testing opularhypothesesboutDistrict ifferencesn character.Use of the word descriptionss complicated y one furtheract: in thecaseofeach District,ome f the tudents hose tereotypes ehaveobtainedare themselves rom hatDistrict. t seemed ikelythat perceptions f aDistrictby its own members oulddiffer rom erceptions y members fother istricts. o test his upposition,ourudges two Americansnd twoPakistanis) independentlyivided the fiftydjectives nto thosehavingalaudatory onnotatione.g.,"honest"),those uggestingn unfavorablerait("cold-hearted"),nd thoseambiguous r neutral n implication"quiet").Therewas unanimous greementmongthe udges on 36 words, nd the 14onwhich omedisagreementccurredwereput intothe ambiguous ategory.The frequency ith whichfavorable, nfavorable,nd neutralwords wereappliedby the studentso their wn District nd to otherDistrictswas thencalculated.Of the336 adjectives sed forownDistrict, 8% werefavorable,14% unfavorable,nd therestambiguous;of the3,696 wordschosen forotherDistricts, 0% werefavorable, 8% unfavorable,nd theremainderambiguous. hus the students endto view their wn region n a moreposi-tive ight han otherregions,n ethnocentrichenomenonardlyuniquetoPakistan.For this reason,however, urthernalysiswill include udgmentsmadeby an individual nly boutotherDistricts, ot about his own.Table 1presentshe djectives hosen y at least25% of thecollege tudentsamplefor the fourDistricts bout whichwe have survey nterview atarelevant o validation. he 25% thresholds arbitrary,ut it assuresthataconsiderable ortion f the sampleholdsthe stereotypetronglynough omake t one of four hoices ut offifty. o complete he picture, ach wordTABLE 1AdjectivesApplied by Pakistani Students to Four Districts (in Percent)

Noakhali N=85) Comilla N=76) Barisal N=81) MymensinghN=69)pious 33 intelligent 25 brave 48 aggressive 28shrewd 31 aggressive 42money-loving 28 (money-loving 16) quarrelsome 30 (quarrelsome 20)hard-working 28 (hard-working 13) hot-tempered 25 (brave 17)(shrewd 10) (intelligent 11)(brave 19) (quarrelsome 9) (hard-working 21) (money-loving 11)(intelligent 16) (brave 8) (money-loving 10) (shrewd 11)(quarrelsome 10) (pious 6) (intelligent 7) (hot-tempered 9)(aggressive 8) (hot-tempered 5) (pious 6) (hard-working 6)(hot-tempered 8) (aggressive 4) (shrewd 6) (pious 4)

NOTE: Wordsmeeting he 25% criterion orone District re shown n parentheses orotherDistricts oallow comparison see text). The District base N's vary because studentsfrom given Districtareexcluded n calculating he percentages oradjectives ttributedo theirDistrict.


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432 SOCIOMETRYabove the 25% requirementor one District s shown n parentheses ithpercentages or he other hreeDistricts s well.The people of the fourdistricts learlydiffern how they re perceived.One wouldhardly onfuse n imaginedmanof Barisal (aggressive nd hot-tempered)with an imaginedman ofNoakhali (pious but also shrewd ndespecially oncerned ithmoney). Whether he Districts lso differ o anyextentn fact-in modal behavior r personality-is quite differentues-tion. Certainlyome of the magerys exaggerated,s indicated y thesys-tematic ifferenceetween erceptions f"own District" nd of "otherDis-tricts"reported bove. But the stereotypesmay also in part be genuineattempts o representocial reality.n the ections hatfollow, e willexploretwoof these tereotypesn an efforto evaluate heir ccuracy nd to under-stand thereasonsfor naccuracy.

SOURCE OF VALIDATION DATAThe "validation" ata come from larger nterviewtudy oncerned iththe effects f industrial xperience n men from raditional ackgrounds.Partof theEast Pakistan ampleconsists f a stratifiedandom ampleof510 urban ndustrial orkers f ruralorigin.As a baselinegroup,however,

closely omparable amplesof cultivators eredrawnby quota methods nspecificural reasfromwhich hefactory orkers ad originallyome.Sincemostmigrant actoryworkers riginate romust threeof the seventeenDistricts-Noakhali,Comilla, nd Barisal, n thatorderof importance-weobtainedfrom hesethreeDistricts amplesof "pure" cultivatorsimilar othefactoryworkersn age (18 to 32), education 0-8), and certain therminorbackground actors. n addition, fourth ultivatoramplewas de-liberatelyrawnfrom neotherDistrict Mymensingh) otablefornot con-tributingo theurbanworkforce. huswehave cultivatoramplesfromhefourDistricts boutwhich tereotypeesultshave alreadybeenpresented.9To furtherncrease hecomparabilitymong hesefour amples, heir is-tributions avebeencarefully quatedon a four oint caleofliteracy, ith19 cases randomly ithdrawnrom ertainDistrict-literacyombinationsnorder omakethefour inalDistrict amples lmost denticaln terms fthisimportantndexof general ducational nd social background.'09Actually ur cultivatoramples re representativeot of whole Districts ut ofDistrict ub-unitsthanas). This method f selection houldyieldsmallerbetween-District ifferenceshan resumablyould ccur f totalDistricts ere andomlyampled,sinceboththequotamethod nd thenature fthetargetreasbring hefinal amplesclosetogethern importantackgroundharacteristics.10The iteracyest,whichwaspartof theregularnterview,lassifiesachpersonlonga fourpoint cale from ompletelliteracyo fluenteading bility.ts retest eliability


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VALIDITY OF STEREOTYPES 433The factory amplereferredo above breaks ntotwo strategic ub-groupsin terms f rural-urbanxperience:New Workers, efined s men with essthan threemonths f urbanand factory ontact, nd ExperiencedWorkers,menwith hree o twelve ears furban nd factoryife. n all cases,themenhad spent t least their irst ifteenears iving n rural ettings. oth ndus-trial ampleshave furthereendivided ntoDistrict roups, nd the distribu-tionsof theseequated for iteracy s was done forthecultivators.or thesmallNew Workerample, nlymenfrom oakhali nd Comilla refrequentenough o be treatedeparately.or ExperiencedWorkers, oakhali,Comilla,and Barisal are representedn sufficientumbers o be examined ere.Alllatertables re based on these pecially quatedsamples f Cultivators, ew

FactoryWorkers,nd Experienced actoryWorkers."FINDINGS ON DISTRICT CHARACTER

Not all of thestereotypesresentedn Table 1 can be evaluatedby thedata availableto us. In particular,he strikingonstellationf adjectives orBarisal s essentiallyntestable y our interviewesponses.ndeed,some ofthe qualities ttributedo Barisal men, bravery" or xample, re probablynot measurable t all by ordinarynterviewmethods. here are twostereo-typesthat we can explorewithsome confidencehatour data are relevantand appropriate: heattributionf bothpiousandmoney-lovingualities othepeopleofNoakhali. n both nstanceswe willdraw on survey nterviewdata,and in the second, nformationrom he1961Census of Pakistanwillalso be used.Piety.One third f the studentample haracterizehepeople of Noakhalias "pious." Thisassertionan readily e tested y inter-Districtomparisons,sincenoneoftheother hree istrictss so described y more han6%o f thestudents.Moreover, ur interviewncludeda large numberof questionsdirectly elevant o theextrinsic eligious erformancesnd values that theimage suggests, articularly ince it is conjoinedfor Noakhali withotheradjectives hat eemtoeliminatemore nward rmystical oncerns.over one monthor more is estimated t rho=.94 (based on 17 cases). It correlates 86with self-reportedducation (N=1001), and thus for practical purposes indicates thatthe District amplesare closelyequated forschool yearscompleted s well as for iteracy.Since onlymen 18 to 32 yearsof age were interviewed, ge differencesre also verysmall.No fully atisfactorynd reliablemeasureof economicstatus per se could be obtained,but interviewers'mpressions nd the literacy nd educationalcontrols uggestthat Dis-trict ifferencesre slight.11The analysis to be presenteduses only part of the total Pakistan sample surveyed(N=1001). Some groupswere interviewedwhich are not relevant to this analysis: e.g.,membersof a rural cooperative organization, own-born men, etc.


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434 SOCIOMETRYTwelvequestions avebeen examinedn light f thehypothesishatNoak-halimenwillreport reater aluation f religiouscts andattitudeshanmenofotherDistricts. he questions re conceptualizedn Table 2 in three ets,

and can be consideredlso as a total ndex.Under"religious erformance"are included hree mportantbservances equired f an ordinaryMuslim."Religiousreferenceroups"consists f four uestions equiringhoicebe-tweentraditional eligious s againstsecular nterests r authorities. heTABLE 2Religious ifferencesyDistrictAmongCultivatorsin Per Cent)

Mymen-Noakhali Comilla Barisal singhMeasure (N=46) (N=38) (N=23) (N=51)Religious erformanceReport ive rayers aily 87 68 48 43Report ne ormore rayersn congregationeekly 98 84 43 66Report ullmonth asting uring revious amadan 63 84 65 90ReligiousReference roupsConsult eligiouseaders t leastonce week 39 26 26 20Givemoreweighto adviceof religioushangovernmenteaders 44 32 44 37Trust nformationrom eligiouseaders ver otherources 30 18 22 18Interestedmore nreligioushan ecularnews 57 53 57 47Religious aluesChoose God'shelp" (as against ecular ction)as mostimportantor akistan's uture 74 73 78 75Choosereligiousver ecular ontent or hildren'sducation 80 63 65 77Say a mancannot e a goodmanwho s notreligious 78 61 61 69Say prayerlone notmedicine)needed ocure llness 83 66 70 77Say automobileccidents re dueto God'swill 95 89 90 90

Meanscore n index fpiety 26.6 25.2 24.2 24.8tfor ifferencerom oakhali - 2.15 2.92 2. 56d.f. - 84 67 95p< - .05 .01 .02

five emainingtems oncernheextent o which raditionaleligious erspec-tivesdominate man's nterpretationfevents.'2The specific esponse redictionsnd results re shown n Table 2 forCultivators,nd in Table 3 forNew FactoryWorkers nd forExperiencedFactoryWorkers. eparate nalysisby occupation, partof thedesignfromthestart, llowsan inquiryntothe effects f urban ndustrialxperiencenregional ifferencesn character. otethatwhileDistrict amples re equatedwithin ccupational roups, irect omparisonf the severalgroupsnTables2 and 3 with ne anothers not possible, incetheoccupational roupsdifferin age and literacy.Comparisonf NoakhaliCultivatoresponsesn Table 2 with hoseofthe12 A completecopyof the questionsused can be obtainedfrom he author.


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VALIDITY OF STEREOTYPES 435other hree istrictsndicates hat heformer ost ften ivethetraditionallypious answer o ten of the twelve uestions, re approximatelyven on onequestion, nd there s one reversal.'3 he questions ave also been scored oconstruct 12-itemndexof piety, nd thisshowsa significantifferencebetween oakhali nd eachof theother hree istricts.'4 he stereotypeatadid notlead to a predictionf differencesmongtheotherthreeDistrictsthemselves,nd in factnoneof theother nter-Districtifferencespproachsignificance.hese results trongly upport he student xpectationsboutreligious ariationby District.Givenan initialDistrictdifferencen reported iety among Cultivators,what shall we expectof urbanfactoryworkerswho comeoriginally afterage 15) fromhese amerural reas?There are severalpossibilities.We maysimplyfind that inter-District ifferencesersist unchanged.This wouldoccur f urban ndustrialxperience as uniformffectsincluding o effect)onthepiety f menfrom ll Districts,o thatwhatever hechangen level ofpiety he relative ifferencesemain.At the other xtreme, e might indnodifferencesy Districtamongeitherof our factoryworker amples.Thiscouldresultfrom ither f twoprocesses:differentialecruitmentn termsofpiety, rrapid ocializationoward commontandard.A third ossibilitywouldbe forNewFactoryWorkerso show he amedifferences Cultivators,but forExperienced actoryWorkers o be homogeneous.his wouldtendto eliminate ifferentialecruitments an explanation,nd support n inter-pretationn terms f ong-termocialization. Logicallyone otherpossibilityexists-thatNew Workers e alike and ExperiencedWorkers ifferent-butthiswouldnot fit asily ny general ocialpsychological odel.)The data in Table 3 allow us to rejectthe student tereotype ortheExperienced actoryWorkers.Althoughhe urbanExperiencedWorkers lllived n theirDistricts forigin or t least their irst ifteen ears, heydonot showdifferencesnpiety longDistrict inesat present. he stereotype

13 The reversal n fasting uring amadan,which s theoreticallyn importantndica-tionof piety, emains uzzling. omeinformantsuggest-and here s someindirectsupportingvidencen oursurvey-that asting uring amadanhas come o assume hesamerole mongMuslimshat nergeticelebrationfChristmasas n theWest:a briefholiday hat s highlypecializedn significancendoften eennot so much s a naturalcontinuationfpiety utrather s a wayofmaking p for ts ackovertherest ftheyear.14Each response as scored if in the directionf self-reportediety as shown nTable2), 1 if n the opposite irection,nd 2 ifomitted. hese coreswere ummedoreachrespondent,nd the totals veraged oreachDistrictample. tandard ignificancetests etween istrictmeans renotstrictlyppropriateecause he samples avebeenequatedfor iteracynd education;uchtests robably nderestimateignificance.on-sistencycross amplesnd items rovides more rustworthy,houghessquantitativemeans fevaluatinghereliabilityf results.


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436 SOCIOMETRYTABLE 3Summary of Religious Differences y DistrictAmong Factory Workers

New Workers ExperiencedWorkersNoakhali Comilla Noakhali Comilla B arisalStatistic (N=26) (N=25) (N=152) (N=88) (N=40)

Mean scoreon indexofpiety 25.2 24.5 24.3 24.2 24.2t fordifferencefromNoakhali - 0.57 - 0.10 0.13d.f. - 49 - 238 190p - n.s. n.s. n.s.

holds formenwho have remainedn their raditional omeDistricts Table2) but not formenwho as young dultsmigrated o thecity nd have livedtherefor n averageof six to sevenyears ExperiencedWorkers, able 3).The data do not allow,however, or learseparation f self-selectionromsocializationn accounting or hisdisappearance f District ifferences.heNewWorkers ontinue o show trend orNoakhali mento be highon theindex fpiety elative o theone District Comilla) with ufficientepresenta-tionfor omparison.ut thedifferenceoesnotapproach ignificance,artlybecausethesamples re small butpartly lso because thedifferenceetweenmeans s less (and the variances lightly arger) than forCultivators. oeliminateelf-selections a possibility,ne wouldhaveto assume hatpartofthe socialization o newstandards fpietyoccurs oonafter man'smovetothecity;orperhapsmore ealisticallyhattheprocess s lessoneofsocial-ization n the sense of internalizationnd morea matter f rapid shift nattitude nd behavior n response o new norms.An alternative ypothesis ouldbe that theNoakhalimenwho choosetoleave their omeDistrict realreadyesspious norientationhan he veragefor heir ohort,nd that his s a factorn,or a correlatef,their ecision omove to thecity.Such an explanation oes not fit ocal assumptionsboutmigrationn East Pakistan,which tress heeconomic ressures n mentomove simplyn orderto survive.The factoryworkers hemselves re alsoalmostunanimous97%) in citing conomic ressureswhenasked, "Whydid you leaveyour villageand takeup factorywork?"Onlythreefactoryworkers romNoakhali,for xample, avea morepositive xplanation e.g.,"to learn new skills"). But such subjective nswerscannotbe taken asdefinitive,s willbe suggestedn the next ection.Lacking clearwayto distinguishecruitmentrom xperience actors,tis safest o assumethatbothplaya role n thechangereflectedn Tables 2and 3. Men leavingNoakhaliareprobablyess conservativen religious ri-entation han theirpeers, nd once in thecity theyrespond o norms hat


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VALIDITY OF STEREOTYPES 437encourage till morerelaxation. s the "deviant"group n piety, heNoak-hali men would be most ikely o change n an urbanwork ituationwheretrans-ethnicorms ome toprevail.15

Materialisticelf-Interest.longwiththestereotypefNoakhalimenasunusually ious goes the quitedifferenticture f their eing money-lovingand shrewd. he characterizations notunique: althougheldom ppliedbya student o his own District there re onlyfive uch nstances), money-loving"has the highest requency f all 50 adjectives n its application ootherDistricts. erhaps n part this imply ignals heslight istrust manof one Districthas toward hetreatmente can expect houldhis journeystakehimto an alien region.Despite such a generalexplanation, owever,there s still ubstantial ariationnuseofthe term-it is appliedtwo and ahalftimes s frequentlyoNoakhalias to Barisal-and evenmorevariationin application f the relatedword "shrewd."Again,popularbeliefsdeserveto be studied.Unlikethe area of religion, he pursuitof moneywas not originallytheme four nterview.utby reinterpretingndgatheringogetheruestionsfrom arious sections f the interview e have triedto obtaina commonfactor ortesting hehypothesisf materialisticoncern. able 4 presentsDistrict omparisonsor ultivators n tenquestions hatcan reasonably einterpreteds offering aterialistichoices.Whentheseare summarizednindexform,neach possible omparisonheres a trend orNoakhali cultiva-torsto be higher, ut noneof the differencespproach ignificance. nalysisofvariance or he four roups lso fails o show significantepartureromchance.Thus there s little irect vidence hatNoakhalicultivatorsremoremercenaryhan othercultivators, or evidencethat any otherDistrict sdistinctiven this trait.Yet reconsiderationuggests hatthestudent eliefs bout Noakhali maybe morecomplexthan allowed forby investigatinghe simple desire formoney. Money-loving"ccompanies hreeotherfrequentlyelected djec-tives: shrewd, ard-working,ious.Whatmaybe involvedhere, s in MaxWeber'scharacterizationf earlyProtestant apitalists,s not so much amercenary rait,but rather propensityowardprofit-makingctivity rperhapsmoregenerallyoward gettinghead." The data in Table 4 offersome supportfor such a reinterpretation.he resultthat most sharplycontradictsheoriginal redictions thegreater referencefNoakhalimen

15 Otherexplanations re of coursepossible.There may,forexample,be a selectionoutof the labor force of more pious Noakhali men aftersome monthsor years. This doesnot seem likely, ince informal nterviewswith 45 factorymanagers ndicate almost noturn-overwithinthepresent ge rangeonce initialhiring s completed.But such alterna-tive explanations annot completely e ruled out on the basis of available data.


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438 SOCIOMETRYTABLE 4Differencesn ConcernforMoney AmongCultivators in Per Cent)

Mymen-Noakhali Comilla Barisal singhItem (N=46) (N=38) (N=23) (N=51)1. Disclaiming nyduty ogivemoney oa needybutdistant elative 33 45 26 472. Naming highpay" as most mportantattributef a job 22 5 0 83. Wanting radio"verymuch"when sked 78 55 57 674. Willing o movetoWestPakistanfordoublepresent arnings 54 40 35 355. Preferring achineob at 200rupeestoclerk'sob at 150rupees 35 55 78 616. Mentioningmaterial uccess s mainbenefitfeducation 28 29 17 247. Mentioningwoormore temswhenaskedwhatthings heywouldliketoown 30 26 13 288. Mentioningxpensivetem oown 58 50 65 429. Mentioning money-makingtem oown 53 46 47 4510. Claimingmoneymost mportantfor uccess 24 40 30 33

Mean scoreon index fmoney-loving 22.2 21.2 20.9 21.5t fordifferenceromNoakhali - 1.13 1.35 0.75d.f. 84 67 95p n.s. n.s. n.s.

forwhitecollarworkovera higherpayingmanual ob (for item#5 inTable 4, Noakhalivs. combined thers, 2=10.10, 2d.f.,p4.0, 2 d.f.,p


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VALIDITY OF STEREOTYPES 439States.16 ut as in thecase ofpiety, here s no consistentvidence hat theDistrictdifferencesiscovered mongthe moretraditional opulations on-tinueto occur among urban workers.17either n the small New Workersample,nor n the argerExperiencedWorker ample,do thequestionsdis-cussed above show significantr consistent ifferencesy District n anydirection. rom the standpoint f a theory f stereotypes,he data againsuggest hat the urbanization rocess omehow hanges he compositionrcharacter f traditionalthnic roups o as to makepopular haracterizationsquite naccurate. ut thedata unfortunatelyo notprovide learevidence sto how heprocess ccurs.

DISCUSSIONStereotypesre regarded y personsholding hem s seriouspropositionsabout socialreality. n social psychology, owever,hey re often reated slargelyfictional,withwhatevervaliditythey possess beingmore or lessadventitious.he present tudybeganwith viewofstereotypess hypoth-eses about national character nd thussubject to test like any otherhy-potheses. ur aim wasnot primarilyo determine owtrueparticulartereo-types re, or what proportion ontain ome truth.t was rather o explorethe ocialconditions nderwhich tereotypesre valid, nd to use stereotypes

in turn s starting ointsfor he study f ethnic ifferencesnder onditionsofchange.16Cf.,Gerhard enski, heReligious actor,GardenCity: Doubleday, 961.17There s some indirectvidence or Noakhali'sdistinctivenessn its heavy out-migration ate,documentedn Mohammed afizSheikh, InternalMigrationn EastPakistan uring he Decade 1951-1961," roceedingsf thePakistan tatistical ssocia-tion, ahore, 963, p. 165-172.Muchof thismigrations intofactory ork, s first oundin A. F. A. Husain and A. Farouk, ocial ntegrationf ndustrialWorkersn Khulna,Universityf Dacca, 1963, . 110. n our nitial creeningample f an average f 50 menrandomlyelected rom ach of46 factories, oakhaliworkers anked ighestn repre-sentationonstituting4% ofthe otal lthough oakhali istrict ad n 1961only .6%of the otalEast Pakistan opulation.Final Tablesof Population, ulletin , PopulationCensus f Pakistan, 961,op. cit.) This overrepresentationannot e explained ntirelyby simple emographicnd ocational actors: omilla istrict asnearly wice hepopu-lation 4.4 million o Noakhali's .4 million), reater ensity1,794 o 1,447 er squaremile), nd as good access o industrialities, et ts representationn our factoryampleisonly 5%.Noakhali's igh ut-migrations sometimesttributedo a patternfsettlementhatleadsto frequentloodingfmarginalultivators,orcinghem o seekemploymentlse-where.Whetherhererealsopsychologicalomponentsrconsequencesfthismigrationrelevantothe tudenttereotypess notknown, utourfailure o find ifferencesmongfactory orkersuggestsot.Their ntensiveearch orwork n other istricts, owever,may support he perceptionf Noakhalimen as "hard-working"nd "money-loving."Interviews ithfactorymanagersevealed hat n many ases they hared hestudentstereotypefNoakhalimenas hard-working.


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440 SOCIOMETRYIn the twoexamples eported,tereotypesppear to have somevalidity nstatistical ermswhen pplied to traditionaluralpopulations. he fact thatthevalidity s clearerfor "piety" thanfor the "money-loving"escriptiontakenalone may be due to severalfactors. he former ype of behavior sperhaps asierto observe hanthe atter, nd its interpretationess removedfrom he "data" accessible o the ayman. t is also a morepositive harac-terization,nd it can be hypothesizedhatpositive tereotypesre on thewholemore ccurate hannegative nes. As shown arlier, here s a generaltendency o describe ther thnic roups n negative erms, t least relativeto one's owngroup, finding onsistentwiththe mutualsuspicionoftenfoundbetween thnicgroups.With thisinitial negativebias operating,

favorabletereotyperobably equires trongervidence han n unfavorableonebeforewinning ide cceptance.The validity f stereotypesncharacterizinghemore raditionalnd stableruralpopulation s lost whenthe focus hifts o men who have movedfromsuch areas to the risingurbanindustrial enters.Althoughmen continueto be perceivedn terms ftheirDistricts forigin, urdata fail to uncoverpredicted ifferencesmong hemlongDistrictines.Patterns fself-selectionor thechanges ccurringn thenewenvironmentr more ikely ome com-binationf thetwo ppearto erasetraditional istinctionsn ethnic haracter.In thisconnection,t is importanto recognizehat theregional ifferencesdealt withhere renotas sharp s thoseof color, eligion,r language hatserve as a meansand markof ethnicdifferentiationn many partsof theworld.The men fromNoakhali and other Districts re basicallyalike inlanguage,re all Muslims,nd ifaskedexplicitly ouldprobably ll considerthemselvesmembers f the same nation.Under such circumstances,t isreasonable o expectcommon ocial experiencend inter-communicationolead to convergencen attitudes nd practices s Province-widetandardsreplace egional orms.These findingslso suggest wosimplehypothesesbout thevalidity fstereotypes.irst, hey re most ikely o be accuratewhenthey oncerngroup hathas changed elativelyittle vera long periodoftime.Howeverhaphazard he observationshatcontributeo a stereotype,he atter houldbecomemore accurate as these observations ccumulateon the basis ofconsistentxperience. econd, ince thepartof a stereotypehat s accuratecan comeonlyafter heobjectivefact, tereotypeshould tend to be moredescriptivefprior han f currenthasesofethnic istory. othpropositionswillno doubtbemodifiedyother ocialfactors, articularlyhedevelopmentof rapidcommunicationnd thecloseness fperceiver o object.But otherthingsbeing equal, stereotypesmay servemostaccurately s a collectivememoryfthestablepastrather han s an image f thechanging resent.

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Social Change and the Validity of Regional Stereotypes in East Pakistan